Denon has finally joined the high-definition revolution with an announcement that the company will release its first ever Blu-ray player later this year.
Details were released in the US this week and players are expected to arrive in the UK shortly. The DVD-3800BDCI BD-ROM and the DVD-2500BTC BD-ROM will be the first BD-ROM Profile 1 version 1.1 Blu-ray players featuring the 10-bit Silicon Optix Realta chipset.
It’s a dramatic U-turn for Denon since the company launched two new upscaling DVD players only nine months ago, which it claimed were equal to or even better than true HD disc players from Blu-ray and HD-DVD.
The key features of the new DVD-3800BDCI (which will cost around £1000) include Full HD 1080p support, as well as a secondary audio and video decoder that allows the simultaneous playback of a separate audio and video track, which can be used for interactive audio and commentary and for picture-in-picture capability.
The player also offers HD audio and DDSC-HD with decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD surround sound outputting both 7.1 analogue signals and PCM audio via the HDMI output. Both models will also feature an SD card reader.
As well as the new Blu-ray players, Denon is also updating its line of upscaling DVD players including the DVD-1940, DVD-1740 and the DVM-1845 five-discs DVD changer.
Related stories
Denon Blu-ray player is a hoax
Denon plan to release Blu-ray player?
Denon are good but can they really make your exisiting DVDs better than HD?
From: Sony to double BRAVIA LCD TV production for growing European demand